10 WWE Fates Worse Than Burial

7. A MAJOR Push

vince mcmahon jeff jarrett
WWE

Much of 2017 as a wrestling fan was spent trying to justify with one hand and castigate with other. Such was the fate of any devotee trying to make complete rational sense of the Jinder Mahal WWE Championship push.

There have been those that haven't looked at home atop the mountain before, and those that got there too early or late to really and truly make it count. Mahal was none of these things, and yet who wouldn't have been absolutely buzzing to receive this opportunity as if from nowhere?

It's happening again - that guilty need to remove the blame from 'Modern Day Maharaja' for this p*ss-weak experiment gone wrong, stopping only to say that his matches didn't level up to the spot he'd suddenly required. Mahal's months-ling was a fairly shameless attempt for WWE to penetrate a market they ultimate failed to do and/or gave up pursuing quite so aggressively.

But because it went on long enough to extend beyond the realms of a traditional fluke, it chequered the legacy of the title and Jinder himself. Every match subsequent to that run stands as a monument to how hard and fast he fell, not that he ever made it at all.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett